They're Back
by PetchricorXConstellation
Summary: The reds and blues are looking for Church and Carolina, and they run into an two old enemies, and a very old friend. *Friendship genre in other chapters*
1. The Monster AI

**I've been working on this for awhile, hope you enjoy!**

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The two teams walked through the empty base, all calling out for Carolina and Church, wondering where the hell those two were. They had disappeared not to long ago and were the only two who knew where they were going next, so they really didn't have any choice but to find them. Doc stood in a room filled with computers, just looking around without interest, as he waited for Carolina and Church to be found he saw a blink white light on the counsel. Doc tapped the glowing part of the control panel and a shock went through his finger, up his hand, and zapped him in the head. He jumped in surprise and rubbed his left temple in slight pain. He mumbled something and turned to see Simmons walking through. He stopped just before Doc and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hey, you all right?" he asked curiously. Doc hissed and gritted his teeth, glaring at him angrily. As the angry thoughts entered his mind he knew they were not his. He felt his body go cold and he dropped the pistol Wash had given him. "Doc, what is it? What's wrong?" Doc slumped up against the wall and shook violently, looking over as a small, white hologram appear by him. Before Simmons could say anything Doc let out a bloody-murder scream at the sight and backed away from the hologram.

"No! No!" he screamed, holding his head as it ached from the AI trying to take him over. "Get him out! Leave me alone, get out! Get out!" Doc tore his helmet off and threw it to the ground, still screaming. Simmons backed away, looking from the hologram to Doc, not sure what to do. Wash ran in and stood by Simmons, making the soldier jump in shock at his presence.

"What is it? What's going on?" he asked, looking over at Doc. "Holy Shit, O'malley!" Both soldiers raised their guns, prepaired to immobilize their teammate it need be. Doc was backed up against the wall, scrambling away from the hologram as it approached him.

"Go away! Leave me alone! Get out of my head!" Doc fell to the ground and covered his face as O'malley's hologram walked into him. Doc screamed in horror and fell to the floor, curling up and shaking violently. "No! Stop, stop it now! Argh! No, no! O'malley, stop! NO!" Everyone ran into the room as Doc suddenly became still.

"Doc...?" Wash said, a bit of worry entering his voice as he spoke. He let out a slight sigh of relief as the purple soldier stood, turning to face them. The Doc started to chuckle in a creepy way, getting them too look over and raise their guns. The chuckle went from creepy to evil, and then went from a chuckle to a full on laugh. He turned to face them, an evil grin covering his features.

"I'm back," hissed the voice they all knew. Everyone yelled out in surprise and aimed their weapons at him. O'malley started towards them, but halted as Carolina entered, pointing her gun at him like everyone else. O'malley let out a fearful shriek and lept back, bumping into the wall and covering his face in fear. "No! Get away! Get away from me!" Everyone looked at each other, unsure of what to do with this. Carolina put her gun down and stepped forward, getting O'malley to cower even more. Carolina lifted her gun and aimed at him.

"But what about Doc?" Donut asked, his voice cracking with worry. Carolina didn't respond, and it took Simmons, Grif, and Sarge to hold back the pink soldier as he tried to attack the Freelancer. Carolina hesitated slightly, and looked over as Church appeared on her shoulder, though he said nothing. Carolina jumped back in surprise as O'malley stood up, his movements slow. Suddenly he grabbed Carolina's gun and hit her with it before running out as fast as he could. Everyone stood there silently, not sure what to do. O'malley was their first ever enemy, and now he was back. So, what did they do now?

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**I'm going to be adding another chapter soon (I hope), so don't worry.**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day!  
Perla: And may it be the best one ever, of all time.  
**


	2. Omicron

**And hurray for chapter two! This one is a bit longer than the last. I hope you like this exciting installment, I'm really looking forward to your reactions! Also, a genre that is slightly added in this chapter is horror. Enjoy.  
**

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O'malley trudged through the forest, shoving branches out of his way and hopping over logs as he did so. His breathing was heavy set and he felt like his-Doc's-lungs were going to burst. He stopped walking and puts his hands on his knees, taking in deep breaths as he rested. He leaned up against a tree and closed his eyes, paying close attention to his breathing as he forced it to slow down. He tensed up as he head the sound that he remembered, and one that he could feel that Doc remembered as well. He opened his eyes and looked straight forward to find a large knife being aimed at him.

"Hello agent Maine," O'malley said coldly, looking up at the large Freelancer. Hearing O'malley's voice Maine lowered the knife, staring at him most likely. O'malley chuckled and patted his shoulder, walking passed him as he did so. Maine watched him as he tapped a branch, making the snow on it fall to the ground. "No need to be so surprised, I am quite alive. And acquired my favorite host." O'malley froze in his movements and made a funny face. "No, you are not. Shut up, Defresne." Maine tilted his head slightly. "He's an idiot." Maine nodded and growled something. O'malley laughed. "So, will you be joining me?" Maine nodded and put his bruteshot on his back. They two then walked away through the snow.

...

"Great, peachy! Now what? Doc's gone, and O'malley's on the loose!" Grif screamed, leaning up against the wall with an angry huff. He folded his arms over his chest and was most likely glaring at the wall across from him from behind his visor. Simmons put a hand on his shoulder and the other soldier let out a deep breath. "Now what?" Grif turned to Carolina and Wash, who stood next to each other in thought.

"I don't know. We need to catch O'malley, but finding the others is also important," Carolina said thoughtfully. She hissed at the logic that betrayed her. "We can't go in two groups either, because Wash knows how to get into the main control room of the base, but I know how to get there. And I don't exactly trust you guys going by yourselves. No offense." All their hands went up.

"None taken lady, we would get ourselves killed anyway," Tucker agreed with her. Carolina nodded and sighed, pacing as she thought about this. Everyone watched as she did so, all knowing that Wash was worried about this. Donut shifted in place and whispered something to Caboose, who put a hand on his shoulder and said something back. Donut nodded and took a deep breath. "So, any ideas?" Carolina glared at him and was about to scream something, but was interrupted.

"You could send me with them," came a voice from down the hall. Carolina and Wash's heads turned slowly towards the owner of the voice. The sim. troopers looked as well and Tucker gasped as he saw his old Sergeant entered the room. But he looked different. He wore ODST armor and a stream of bullets twisting around his chest. Carolina and Wash shared a look before turning back to him.

"Florida? But I thought you died," Carolina said as she walked up to him, tapping his visor. He chuckled and poked her as well, waving to Wash and turning to the others. He jumped in surprise as he saw they all had their guns aimed at him. He glanced over at Carolina. "Don't worry about it, it's normal. Guys, put 'em down." When they didn't lower their guns Carolina hissed. "I said lower your weapons!" They still didn't, but after a moment Tucker did and walked over to the new Freelancer.

"You were a Freelancer?" he said angrily, but before he could respond he spoke first with anger. "Let me guess, the Director sent you to keep an eye on the Alpha AI, right? You never cared about us as a team, you only cared about your mission. You're one of them! A hardened, asshole Freelancer! The only one of you that has proved their worth to me is Wash, because he stood up for us, he protected us! But you, and her?" He pointed to Carolina. "You two are still asshole Freelancers to me. But you? You're worse! At least Carolina told us the truth, at least she cared a about us, if only a smidgen. You? You never gave a damn! You're just an asshole Freelancer. You lied to us! You bastard!" Tucker threw his gun to the ground, hitting his former leader's feet before he stormed off.

"Tucker!" Caboose called, putting away his gun as he ran after him. Carolina looked over at the ODST armored Freelancer as he stared down at Tucker's gun without saying or doing anything. Grif and Simmons walked passed him to where they had seen Tucker and Caboose run off too, Grif making a point to rub shoulders with him. Sarge and Donut followed them after a moment of thought, leaving the three Freelancers in the room alone together. Well, with the exception of Church of course. In fact, Church appeared on Carolina's shoulder once they were all gone.

"I'm going to assume that the Alpha knew you, I don't know you, but I'll assume he did," Church said. No one said anything, and Church look at Carolina as she shook her head. Church merely nodded and disappeared as Florida leaned up against the wall and slid down, never taking his eyes off of Tucker's gun. Carolina picked up the gun and glanced passed it at the blue Freelancer, who still didn't take his eyes off of it.

"Don't hold it to close to heart. They've had bad encounters with ninety-nine percent of Freelancers. The one percent being Wash and I, and now you I guess. Don't worry, they'll warm up to you," Carolina tried to assure him, but he did not look calmed by her words. She sighed. "You did care about them, didn't you?" He nodded slowly and Wash chuckled, getting both to look at him. Wash sat down next to Florida and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"I hear that. I'm their leader now, and boy are they a hoot! I tell ya, not a day goes by when I have to hold a laugh in!" Wash said, sounding happy for the first time in a long time. Florida laughed and nodded in agreement. "Tucker can be gross sometimes, but not too bad." Carolina smiled at the sight as they two talked about the teams, laughing at some of the stories they shared.

...

O'malley sat down on a log and took in a deep breath of fresh air as Maine stood beside him. Maine growled at the place they had arrived, all covered in snow with a base in the distance. O'malley chuckled and walked into the base with ease, Maine followed tensely behind at the memory of what happened here. This is where they had tried to murder him, those stupid sim. troopers and agent Washington. Curse them! O'malley chuckled at his reaction.

"Relax my friend, only here for a moment," he assured his partner as they walked into the base farther, going into the computer room in silence. Maine huffed and followed right behind, gasping and taking a step back as a bright light entered the room, though soon the light was sucked out and all was dark except for one little AI hologram sitting upon a counsel. The little shadow looking hologram looked slowly up at O'malley. "Hello, brother."

"O'malley," came the dark, evil voice. "It's been awhile, hasn't it brother?" O'malley nodded and knelt down, giving the AI a smile while Maine backed up. The hologram stood up and smirked with his arms crossed. "I see that you kept your promise. I am glad you did, I might have come after you otherwise." At this point Maine had turned and fled, running as fast as he could. "Which one?" O'malley stood and pointed to the door Maine had used as an exit. The AI got an evil smirk, white teeth showing as the hologram turning into a shadow-like dust and bolted towards Maine. At this point Doc sensed what O'malley was having him do.

"No!" his voice broke out, his hand reaching out towards the door. "Maine, no!" But it was too late. Maine let out a loud shriek and fell to the ground as a dark cloud surrounded him and an evil laugh sounded as he was devoured from the inside-out. His mind went first, only a bit being left so that he felt the pain as one of his lungs went, then a kidney, then other parts, but was still left alive. The shrieks came to an abrupt halt as the last of his mind was gone, then his heart and everything else, leaving only skin and bone.

O'malley shuddered and walked out into the coldness of the outside. There laid Maine, or what was left of him with that evil AI's hologram hovering above him. Doc hid in the back of his mind, his mental image shaking with fear as O'malley came closer to the AI. The AI turned to face him and watched as he knelt down on one knee before him. The AI gave that evil smirk again and cackled as he glanced down at what remained of the large Freelancer. He turned to O'malley as he cleared his throat.

"It is good to see you again, Omicron," he said, trying to hide his nervousness. Omicron let out an evil laugh and entered O'malley, his image standing before Doc. The man screamed at the sight of him and the evil AI simply laughed in amusement. O'malley shuddered, grabbed Maine's bruteshot, and ran off as fast as he could. He could hear Doc screams just barely in the back of his head as Omicron tortured the poor man in any and every way he could. O'malley winced as he felt a pang in the back of his head, and silently prayed, so that Omicron could not hear, that he had not erased the human's mind away.

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**And that's a wrap. Like it? I hope so. Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day!  
Perla: And may it be the best one ever, of all time!  
**

**Hey guys, Perla here! I just wanted to thank for the letters of insperation for those of you that wrote them. And I wanted to wish you all a happy new year. Hope that life is good for you all!  
~Perla**


	3. A Reuion and a Meal

**And chapter three! This one is much, much shorter than the other two. Enjoy everybody!**

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Both teams got to their feet as Florida entered the room no one spoke, there was only silence as the Freelancers all entered. Florida handed Tucker his rifle, gave him a nod, and walked out of the building with his weapon ready to fire just in case. Carolina motioned for Tucker and Simmons to follow as she jogged after him. The two soldiers brought their weapons to bear and ran after her, not to eager to catch up. Wash leaned up against the wall and Caboose was silent as Donut and Sarge talking to him, asking many questions. Caboose sighed and walked down the hallways, thinking silently to himself.

He ran his hand along the wall as he walked, looking down at his feet as he walked. Wondering about O'malley and Doc, wondering where they were at. He walked into a large computer room and walked around it in circles. What if O'malley deleted Doc's mind? AIs could do that, couldn't they? What if O'malley got another body and killed Doc then? What if Doc got hurt because of O'malley, or what if they ran into the Meta? Or Wyoming? Or Texas? Or-Caboose's thoughts stopped as he ran into someone. He took two steps back and looked up at them. His eyes widened.

"O'melly?" he said, pronouncing the name completely wrong. O'malley snarled and walked towards him, getting the moron soldier to step back in turn with him, shaking in fear at the evil glare he was being given. He bumped up against the wall and O'malley's hand enclosed over his throat, starting to squeeze. But than for no reason at all, he stopped. Caboose opened his eyes and became completely frozen as he saw a small, black AI hologram before him. His body went ice cold and if you could see his face it would have gone pale, white as snow. The AI smirked, showing pure white teeth.

"Micheal, lovely to see you again," he spoke coldly, his voice smooth but scary. Without a second passing after the last word was spoken Caboose let out a blood curtailing scream. O'malley jumped back in surprise and Omicron disappeared instantly. Caboose shoved himself up against the wall, still screaming loudly as though he had just seen someone murdered.

"Caboose? Caboose!" they heard Wash call. O'malley cursed, turned, and ran as fast as he could. Caboose sat on the ground and curled up, holding himself tightly and whimpering in fear, shaking violently. He heard running footsteps and Wash entered with Tucker and Florida right behind. "Caboose? What is it? What's wrong?" Caboose didn't answer, just latched onto Wash as soon as he knelt by him, crying a little. "What happened?"

"O'melly, tried to kill me," Caboose said, hiccuping through the tears. "Then..." Caboose became stiff. He let go of Wash and stood up, looking extremely tense. Wash stood up. "Omicron." Wash and Florida gasped, both taking a step back. Caboose snarled, clenching his fists. "Son of a bitch." Tucker and Wash jumped a little at this and watched as Caboose stormed out with Florida following him. Wash and Tucker looked at each other.

"Have you ever heard Caboose swear before?" Wash asked. Tucker shook his head and stated the he had never heard Caboose swear in the time that he had known him. They both looked over at the door Caboose had used as an exit, wondering about their young friend. They both sighed and followed the direction the other two had taken. Extremely worried over this.

...

O'malley ran out of the base and into the sunlit desert. Two sniper shots fired at him, missing terribly and he heard someone cuss loudly at his failure as O'malley bolted into the caves that spiraled through the mountains. He heard Carolina cuss him out and he gave a light smirk. He yelled out in pain and fell to his knees as Doc screamed yet again, louder than before. As he closed his eyes he could see them, Doc curled up in a corner tied up with Omicron torturing him. O'malley's eyes shot open and he snarled.

"Enough!" he exclaimed loudly. He stood up and glared at the air, in the spot he was glaring Omicron appeared with a look of confusion. O'malley glared at him. "Leave him alone! I know you like to torture people, that's how you have fun. But not him, you understand? You will not strip him of his identity and scare him senseless. So, leave. him. alone!" O'malley put a fine point at each of the last three words. Omicron was silent for a long moment, not sure what to say. He folded his arms over his chest.

"Fine," he agreed. "But if you don't find me some food soon I'll start it up again." Omicron disappeared and O'malley let out the breath he had been holding. He started to walk again, hearing silence in the back of his mind. He continued through the twisting caves, only stopping when he heard Doc speaking to him, his voice quiet and small, and O'malley almost didn't hear or understand him.

"Thank you," came the small voice. O'malley stopped walking and closed his eyes, concentrating as his mental image hugged the terrified medical student. He felt Doc's fear, but he also felt him relax and his nerves became calm. O'malley smiled slightly, opened his eyes, and kept walking through the caves. As he came to the exit there was a loud ringing inside his head and Omicron let out a loud hissing noise. O'malley knew what this was, Omicron was starving and needed food. But who should he give? O'malley walked out into the light and saw her there, bright yellow armor and all.

Without any warning Omicron lept out of O'malley's acquired body and onto hers, making her shriek loudly and screamed for someone named Dexter. O'malley looked away as he sensed Doc's memories. He name was Kai Grif, that orange lazy-ass's little sister. Somehow knowing her name and her history made it unbearable. The screams silenced and Omicron reentered his mind in silence. O'malley swore he heard the smacking of lips, and it made him shiver as he continued to walk away. Omicron disgusted him greatly. But he had no choice but to help him. No choice at all.

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**Man, I'm just on a roll today.**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day!  
Perla: And may it be the best one ever, of all time!  
**


	4. The Truth

**Ok, and here we have another short chapter. But it's full of feels, and a huuuge surprise! Enjoy!**

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O'malley sat in the cold, hugging himself and shivering violently. The removing of the helmet made the weather feel colder than it should have. Though thankfully Omicron had shut off for a while. After devouring that poor girl Omicron had told O'malley that he had to shut down, recharge so that he could eat more later. So for the moment the devil of an AI was, as the humans say, sound asleep while O'malley sat nearly freezing to death. Damn this blasted cold weather! O'malley thought a moment, swallowing nervously at his thought. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Defresne?" he asked slowly, then waited for the Doc to reply. He hear a small moan and took that as a response. "You all right?" O'malley closed his eyes and he could see Doc laying on a ground, sprawled out and his mental image looked extremely pale. O'malley's image walked over to him and winced as he saw Doc struggle to simply shake his head. He gently picked him up and leaned up against an invisible wall, setting his friend next to him. "Cold, isn't it?" Doc nodded a bit in agreement and shivered as well. "I'm sorry about Omicron. I should've stopped him before." Doc shrugged a bit.

"It's all right. He is pretty terrifying," Doc said, his voice kind as always. O'malley gave a small smile and nodded in agreement. He jumped as Omicron appeared in front of them, getting Doc to cower and scramble back away from the evil AI. Omicron hissed at O'malley and his eyes shot open in shock. Omicron appeared in front of O'malley and hissed angrily, walking on the air towards him.

"Remember what they did to you? Humans are not to be trusted, never," Omicron snapped angrily. "And I suggest you focus on finding a better place to stay before you freeze and get all of us killed. So get moving!" O'malley stood up and Omicron disappeared as he walked out of the cave. Hugging himself tightly as he trudged through the snow that was almost up to his knees. He sighed and kept on going. Fearing for both his life, and Doc's.

...

Caboose sat on the ground, still shaking and starting at the wall. He jumped as Wash sat by him and looked around as the others, meaning everyone, sat around him. Church appeared on Carolina's shoulder and looked over at Caboose, who looked at the ground without saying a word. Florida went to set a hand on his shoulder, but just as he got an inch away Church's hologram took a step forward and he let out a low, angry growl that made him retract his hand without a moments thought to it. Caboose looked up at them.

"Caboose," Church said slowly. "How did you know Omicron?" Caboose shivered at the name and looked over at Wash as he wrapped an arm around Caboose. What Caboose didn't see was that Church had nodded at Wash, pretty much telling him to do it because he couldn't. Caboose sighed and looked at Carolina, his gaze no faltering.

"Georgia," was all he said. Carolina's eyes widened and Wash retracted his hand as though Caboose had sudden burst into flames. "I knew him." Carolina, Wash, and Florida let out long breaths as he said this. "He had stolen Omicron, given him too me, and told me to hide him. He was mean. And scary. And cruel." Caboose curled up, starting to shake again. "He eats people." Everyone stared.

"Caboose, he's an AI. He can't eat anything," Simmons said, trying to reason with him. He yelped as Caboose straightened out, looking straight at him. Everyone jumped and stared at Caboose as he did this.

"Yes he does, I've seen it!" he exclaimed. "He eats their mind first, leaving just enough for them to feel him eat some of the important parts. He does it slowly too. Then he destroys the mind, eating everything else. Leaving just skin and bone." Everyone became tense, not a word was spoken. They all knew Caboose was either making this up or had been so scared by Omicron that his mind came up with it, and he thought it was real. Church was the first to tell him this.

"Caboose, you must have seen wrong, or something. An AI can't do that. The alpha couldn't, so they're no way he could-" Caboose lept to his feet, fist clenched, teeth gritted together, and he surprised everyone at his next words:

"Why do you think I'm an idiot?!" he hollered, making everyone stare in shock at this. "He tried to eat me, started with my mind. But..." he looked down, becoming less tense. "He saved me. The Alpha, he saved me." Everyone was silent, not sure what to think about it. Church stared up at Caboose. Was that why he was so attached to him? Because of what the Alpha did? Because he saved his life from an evil AI? Caboose then turned and ran.

"Caboose!" Church called out to him, not being able to chase him down. He jumped in surprise as Grif and Simmons chased after their youngest member. Church looked down at the ground before his hologram disappeared. Carolina and Wash shared a look. Maybe all these sim. troopers were more important and more involved than they had thought.

...

O'malley couldn't watch and winced as he heard yet another person died by Omicron's cruel ways. He heard different organs disappear, but it was the pain filled scream that got to him. It never had before, but somehow it was starting too. Maybe it was how Omicron drew it out not for pleasure, not for revenge. But because he thought it was funny. He laughed at their pain, their misery, their screams. He thought it was funny when people cowered in his presence, when they screamed at the sound of his voice. When the noise finally stopped O'malley turned to see three sim. troopers laying on the ground. He stepped over them and walked away, tense in his step. He could feel Doc growing weaker and weaker with each passing moment. But there was nothing O'malley could do. Oh, but he wished there was.

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**And there ya go. Well, that's the last one for now. Time to finally hit the hay. Night all!**

**Thanks for reading and please review!  
**


	5. The Power of Omicron

**Yay for shortness! Hope you enjoy another excited installment.**

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"That's it! I've had enough of this!" Grif screamed, turning around and storming away. Sarge and Florida had spent the last fifteen minutes doing nothing but insulting him, and he had gotten his fill of it for now. He heard Sarge call after him, but he was to steamed to care what he said. He grumbled to himself as he tossed his gun at a rock, letting out another angry huff as he did so. He tensed up as he heard footsteps and growled. "Leave me alone Sarge, I don't need to hear anymore-" Grif froze and his mouth stayed open as he saw O'malley walking towards him in a threatening way. He took a step back and cursed himself for tossing away his weapon.

"Grif, right?" came a voice dark as night and cold as the weather around him, it made Grif shiver. A black hologram appeared and the AI smirked, showing pure white teeth. Grif felt a scream get hitched in his throat as he backed up into a rock. He looked frantically around for a weapon of any kind, but found none. He looked up and gasped in fear as the AI rushed at him. A black mist surrounded him and there was a sharp pain in the back of his head, which soon maxed and made him feel like he was going to explode. The scream that had gotten hitched in his throat came out in a bloody murder like way.

"Grif? Holy shit, O'malley!" O'malley whirled around and ducked as the maroon soldier everyone called Simmons fired at him. He cursed and heard Omicron screech as he reentered his mind. Simmons fired again and O'malley jumped to the side, falling into the snow. He winced slightly as Omicron shocked him, clearly angry at the circumstances of the exact moment of which they were in.

"Run you idiot! Flee!" Omicon snapped at him. O'malley got to his feet and ran, wincing as a bullet made contact with him, though he was to busy running away to notice where it had landed as he kept running. He heard Simmons yell something, but did not pay him any heed as he ran away. He heard plenty of noise, lots of voices, behind him as he left, running into a cave and into the deeper parts of it until he knew that the Reds, Blues, and Freelancers would not find him. There was sharp pain and Omicron appeared before him, glaring angrily at him. "You idiot, you should've known they were there!" O'malley opened his mouth to speak, but the only thing that escaped was a loud scream as he clutched his head. "And now you must be punished."

...

"Grif! Grif!" Simmons screamed, dropping his gun as Sarge fired one more shot at O'malley. He knelt by Grif and rolled the soldier onto his back. Grif was shaking and holding his head tightly, his eyes squeezed shut. "Grif, what happened?" Simmons jumped in surprise as a hand was placed on his shoulder and he watched as Caboose knelt next to him. He looked over at Simmons.

"Omicron," was all he said. Simmons tensed and looked down at Grif as he shook. Sarge walked over and Simmons jumped in surprise as his shotgun was dropped into his arms. Sarge knelt over Grif and sat him up. Grif let go of his head and used his arms to hold himself up. He was staring off into the distance, as if he was unsure of what had just happened to him.

"Grif? Sarge said, watching as the soldier simply stared off at nothing. At Sarge's voice Grif's head whirled around to look at him, breathing heavy as he did so. "You all right?" Grif's only response was to throw himself at Sarge, holding onto him tightly and shaking violently. Instead of throwing the soldier off and making some remark Sarge held onto Grif and sighed, muttering something the others didn't hear. Sarge stood up, catching Grif as he stumbled on his own feet. He picked him up and the three walked back to the others, who were all waiting for them.

"What happened?" Carolina asked, her voice filled with worry. Simmons sighed and looked over at Grif, watching as Sarge set him in the passenger seat of the warthog. Caboose walked over to Carolina and gave a light shake of his head.

"Omicron, he got to him," Caboose told her. Carolina gave a light gasp and turned to look at Grif as the soldier sat in the warthog, shaking. Simmons sighed and looked over at where he had seen O'malley run off to with the AI Omicron. He had heard the AI scream at O'malley, and if he had been looking right O'malley looked terrified. He narrowed his eyes in thought. Was O'malley scared of Omicron? He shook his head. No. O'malley was to evil to be scared. Simmons turned around and walked over to Grif.

...

O'malley laid curled up on the floor, shaking violently with his ears ringing, eyes watering, and heart pounding so hard that it sounded like thunder. Omicron let out a light huff and gave a nod of approval before his hologram disappear, leaving O'malley in his pain. Omicron hadn't eaten away at him, no, that wasn't possible because O'malley was an AI. But making his body burn? Giving him shocks as powerful as lightning? Making his mind burn? Yes, he could do that.

"O'malley?" Doc said, his voice quiet and full of sympathy. O'malley didn't reply, just continued shaking. "He's gone. Omicron shut down. Are you all right?" Again, O'malley said nothing, his response to this was to fall apart. O'malley never understood Tex or the other Freelancer's feeling of sadness, why they felt broken, betrayed, or hurt. But now he understood. He understood the pain they felt. As he lay there crying he felt Doc frown at the sight.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he murmured. "I'm a bad AI, a very bad AI." He felt arms wrapped around him, and panicked for a moment. But he then realized it was Doc, hugging his mental image. He whimpered a little and hugged his knees closer to him, continuing to cry, through this time quieter. Omicron can turn the Meta into skin and bones, take a young girl's life without mercy, and turn the most powerful AI to nothing but tears and sobs. This is the power and greed. Fear it, humans of Earth. Fear it.

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**And that's that. *wipes hands* There will be another chapter up tomorrow with another character death, can you guess who?**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day.  
**

**Dear friends of fanfiction,  
I am 13 years old and my big sister has just written up this fanfiction for you. Well, I'm afraid that this is my last ever message (even though it is only the second) because my parents are taking away my internet and I am moving across the country, and will never be seeing my big sis again. I do wish you all the best in life, and good luck on all your stories. My sister has told me a whole lot about you, and I can tell that you are a very nice bunch of people. I wish that I could've met you, and thanks for all the letters.  
Your friend,  
Perla  
**


	6. Death

**Another short installment, but still very interesting (or at least I hope so). Hope you enjoy!  
**

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Florida hopped out of the warthog and watched as Grif and Simmons sat talking, though is seemed that Simmons was doing most of the talking. He sighed and continued to walk, not really paying attention to where he was going as he thought on what Tucker had told him. And he couldn't really blame him, could he? They had good reasons to distrust Freelancers, many good reasons. From Tex, the Meta, how Wash betrayed them, Carolina wanted to put them in a death trap, and now how he turned out to be a Freelancers. Yeah, good reasons indeed.

"Florida, long time," came an eerily familiar voice from behind him. Florida tensed up and turned around to find O'malley standing behind him, his arms crossed and a blank expression covering his features. "It is such a pleasure to see you again, though not for me. You are quite needed to keep Omicron's live-line steady." A black hologram appeared on O'malley's shoulder and let out a loud hiss, barring its teeth to show them to be pure white. "Why don't you run? It's much more fun for him that way." Flordia stood his ground and O'malley shrugged. "All right, suit yourself." Florida didn't move a muscle as Omicron bolted toward him. He closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh.

"I'm sorry," he murmured as he felt Omicron entered his mind. "Take care of yourse-ARGH!" Florida let out a scream as his mind got eaten away and he fell to his knees in the snow, falling over to his side and twitching violently from the pain. He heard yelling, probably the others, but he knew that they'd be to late. He knew that they'd-and Florida was no more. Omicron appeared above his body to give a triumphant cackle before running back to O'malley, who than ran away from the site.

"Flordia? Flor-oh no..." Wash stopped in his tracks as he saw the body laying there, the fellow ex-Freelancer laying on the ground motionless. He ran over and kicked him over onto his back. He took off his helmet, the paleness of his face telling him that the man before him was dead even before he reached to check his pulse. He let out a heavy sigh and stood, turning to face the others as they stopped only a yard or two away. "Omicron got to him." All their shoulders sagged a little and they walked back. After hearing the news about Florida, Carolina pretty much flipped.

"All right, that's it! No more wandering off, understood?" she ordered. Everyone nodded. "You stay with the group, or at least with one other person." After that silence ensued. Tucker walked away, still in sight though, and banged his head up against a rock. After this went on for a long moment Wash walked over and grabbed him by the back of the head, stopping the motion. The blue soldier turned to Wash, not saying a word. Neither one spoke for a long moment, not noticing that Carolina was watching them. Tucker sighed and looked down at his feet.

"I was wrong to be so cross with him," he said quietly, as if talking to himself instead of Wash. "I know that he's a Freelancer and all, but the majority of the Freelancers we've met didn't turn out to be so bad. Well, ok, not really. But you and Carolina are pretty cool, and maybe Florida was too, but now I'll never know." Wash put a hand on his shoulder, getting him to look up at him.

"We all make mistakes," he told him. "We can either chose to run from them, or learn from them." Tucker looked up at him and raised an eyebrow slightly. "And yes, I did just paraphrase the Lion King." Tucker laughed at this and both walked back to the others. Carolina gave a small smile from behind her visor and leaned back against the warthog. She then gave a light sigh. Omicron was one tough enemy, and she wasn't sure if they could make it through this one.

...

O'malley paced through the cave mumbling to himself. Omicron had shut off for awhile so the mind was left to him and Doc. Doc was being quiet as O'malley paced, from anxiety most likely. O'malley stopped as a hologram started to flicker, and he tensed. He didn't want to see Omicron right now. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the hologram was not black, but purple instead. He gasped as it appeared, the hologram falling over as it did so.

"Wow, that's hard. How do you do that all the time?" Doc asked, the hologram standing up. O'malley gasped and looked at the hologram as he stood in front of him. "What? It's cramped in their with Omicron having joined us." O'malley gave a light chuckled and shook his head.

"Wow, Doc. I'm impressed," he said. Doc chuckled and his hologram sat criss-cross. There was a long silence as Doc stared at O'malley. After a very long moment O'malley sighed, sitting criss-cross in the snow and staring down at his lap, both going serious. "I'm scared of him, Doc." Doc's hologram lowered so that it was eye level with him as he listened. "I don't know why, but I am. Sometimes I wish I could kill him. But I can't." Doc let out a soft sigh and his hologram flickered a moment before disappearing. O'malley leaned up against a rock and closed his eyes, his mental image appearing in front of Doc.

"Sorry about that, still human, no supposed to do that," Doc said with a light shrug. O'malley nodded in understanding and both flinched as they sensed Omicron's awakening. Doc instantly hid in the shadows of his mind and O'malley's eyes shot open yelping in surprise as Omicron's hologram was right in front of him. Omicron let out a small huff and shook his head, as if disgusted, and was gone in an instant. O'malley felt his heart racing at a million miles an hour. He put a hand over his chest and looked at his hand as it shook. This wasn't going to be over easily.

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**And that's a wrap! By the way, killing off Florida was my older sister's idea, not mine.  
**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day!  
Perla: And may it be the best one ever, of all time.  
**


	7. Goodbye

**This one is very short. Apologies.**

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O'malley walked through the snow, shivering in the cold as he held himself tightly. Omicron was gone, forever. Wash had made sure of that, deleted him. But now O'malley and Doc were left to freeze to death. O'malley's knees gave out and he fell into the snow face-first, staring into its whiteness with a blank mind. In the back of his mind he could hear Doc screaming at him to get up, to keep going, that he couldn't give up, and all that shit. But he didn't care. He was done for, and so was he. At least Omicron was stopped, at least he didn't have to worry about him killing anyone anymore. And he didn't have to worry about himself anymore either.

He closed his eyes and a tear fell, just one. It melted the snow below it and made it warm. O'malley turned over and stared up at the sky, snowflakes falling onto his face and into his eyes, making him blink them away. He heard Doc go quiet, now figuring out that he could not convince O'malley to keep going. The only thing he was going to regret about this moment, was that he had to take Doc with him. The Doc also had to die. O'malley thought a moment. Maybe he didn't.

"O'malley, no," Doc said, his voice frantic. O'malley closed his eyes and accessed his programming. "O'malley, no! Don't do it! We can both live, don't do it!" O'malley found the strand he was looking for and smiled a tiny bit, but the smile was that of a dead man.

"Thank you," he murmured. "Thank you for being the only one to believe in me." He heard Doc scream out his name, then sob it. And that was the last thing O'malley heard. The body lay there, motionless for a very long time. But finally the eyes opened, filled with tears as Doc took over. He sobbed and sat up. O'malley's last thought echoing through his mind: _At least I did one thing right. Letting you live..._

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**And that's all. Sorry for cutting it so short.  
**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day.  
Perla: And may it be the best one ever, of all time  
**


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